this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] Neato@ttrpg.network 241 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Looking over the wikipedia page on this mushroom and all the similar, very edible ones...Yeah I'm never foraging mushrooms.

[–] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Is the main visual difference just the stem or whatever it's called being much longer?

[–] Risk@feddit.uk 36 points 5 months ago (2 children)

IIRC, the only definitive way to ID mushrooms is by making a spore print - and even then you need to know what you're doing.

Just doesn't seem worth the risk to me.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 55 points 5 months ago (3 children)

nah it's generally fairly easy to ID mushrooms, the problem is just that if you miss a feature and mistake it for another, you'll fucking liquidize from the inside out.

This is the same reason that you never touch something that looks like a carrot plant in the wild, because it could be that one plant that kills you 3 times over.

I agree that it's generally not worth the risk though, hence why those who pick mushrooms (which is pretty standard to do here in the nordics) stick to like 5 species who have no dangerous lookalikes and actually taste good and are easy to find.

Here in sweden 90% of what people pick is chanterelles or boletes, whose entire families look effectively the same and at worst simply don't taste good. Boletes have ONE slightly toxic species in sweden, and it's bright red and only grows on one island in the baltic sea.

[–] teejay@lemmy.world 25 points 5 months ago (3 children)

This is the same reason that you never touch something that looks like a carrot plant in the wild

That's funny. I was just thinking to myself "Fuck all this mushroom noise. I'll just stick to eating carrots, no way to mistake those for something else." I guess I'll die quickly in the coming apocalypse.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This is why we befriend the people who can reliably ID plants and know what is safe to eat, you wouldn't survive an apocalypse alone regardless.

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[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 19 points 5 months ago (5 children)

If anyone is curious about the carrot mention, Google where the phrase "Sardonic Grin" came from.

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[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

never touch something that looks like a carrot plant in the wild, because it could be that one plant that kills you 3 times over.

Okay so when you said "Never touch" I was thinking casually "Oh, don't go messing with it or munching on it or whatever. Sound advice."

Looking it up, oh...poison hemlock...you were being dead-exact.

Source

"As his doctor, Christopher Hayner, MD, pointed out, LeBlond didn't have to eat the poisonous plant to fall ill. "Anything you can touch, you can also inhale," he explained to Good Housekeeping. When LeBlond used a chainsaw to cut down the hemlock, tiny particles scattered in the air, and when he breathed them in, they almost killed him."

Oh holy crap. ~~Kill it with fire~~!

"If you do find a suspicious stalk and want to remove it, wear gloves, a face mask, and protective clothing. Dig it out from the roots, rather than cutting it, and never burn it, as the fumes can cause a reaction."

Not even fire can sate its lust for indiscriminate killing?!

Apparently it's a "recent problem" that this stuff is spreading all over the place.

It was as I suspected. Going outside is overrated. 😬

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

This is untrue. Spore print can be useful for some very similar species or when you are first learning but I’ve been picking and eating wild mushrooms for about 15 years now and I basically never do a spore print anymore. Once you learn it’s pretty unnecessary. The ones I pick are easy to ID anyway. Most people can learn to identify them fairly quickly with some instruction though I have noticed that some people lack the attention to detail to be good at it.

[–] chumbalumber@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 5 months ago

Yah -- and to add certain edible mushrooms or families of mushrooms are very distinctive (e.g. hedgehog fungi in the UK), and I would recommend novices start out with. Others I wouldn't touch with a barge pole even if I was relatively confident with an id, purely because it isn't worth the risk (e.g. miller Vs fools funnel).

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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 13 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Lots of differences but the simplest one would be that button mushrooms would typically have color to their gills—depending on the species they usually start out pinkish or pale brown and move to dark brown as they get older. Destroying angel has pure white gills.

But button mushrooms are actually not very beginner friendly despite their familiarity since there are other poisonous lookalikes in many areas.

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[–] Devdogg@lemmy.ml 164 points 5 months ago (2 children)

There are old mushroom foragers and then there are bold ones. There are no bold, old mushroom foragers.

[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.world 63 points 5 months ago (9 children)

There are no bold, old mushroom foragers

Sure there are, they just have to not eat what they picked up.

Source: friend's mom once gave food poisoning to the whole family by serving them an omelet made with mushrooms she found, but didn't eat it herself. Fortunately it was merely mushrooms of the "fucks up your stomach" variety.

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[–] sushibowl@feddit.nl 152 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Looks like a destroying angel (e.g. Amanita virosa) to me. This and the death cap together account for the vast majority of mushroom poisonings in the world. Cooking it will not destroy the toxins, nor will acid. Symptoms tend to appear 5-24 hours after eating, too late to pump the stomach. Half a mushroom can be enough to kill you.

I don't recommend going out to pick mushrooms unless you know what you're doing. If you do, stay away from the white ones. You can still get terrible stomach cramps and diarrhea from other colors of mushrooms, but the white ones have the most dangerous species.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 43 points 5 months ago (7 children)

Easiest way to avoid problems I've heard is to never pick any mushroom with ribbed underside. If the underside looks like a sponge, it's usually safe to eat. At least where I'm from.

[–] sushibowl@feddit.nl 54 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Might be valid advice for some regions, I don't know. But mushrooms tend to vary quite a bit in appearance. Sometimes ribbed species don't have very visible ribs, or younger mushrooms don't quite have all the characteristics of their mature form. If you really want to get into picking mushrooms, there's often local groups you can join with a resident expert who can tell you which ones are safe.

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 33 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Rule of thumb with mushrooms is that these id tricks tend to be regional and not always accurate unfortunately. Nature is a bit more of a kaleidoscope.

[–] MrPoopyButthole@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Exactly. Don't trust a stranger on the internet to help you avoid death.

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[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 67 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Neural networks are magical anywhere that near misses are good enough.

Companies keep using them as if they're infallible, when lives and fortunes are at stake.

Tech is not the problem.

[–] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 30 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Tech is ravenously trying to convince the world they need AI for every aspect of their business. Tech wants you to think LLMs are infallible and they strongly imply that they are even if the fine print says otherwise. So personally I would say tech is very much part of the problem. One could say they are the root of the problem in fact.

[–] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 28 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I think he’s referring to literal technology itself as “Tech” and you’re referring to the people trying to sell it as “Tech”—aka “Big-Tech” as some would say

[–] Shyfer@ttrpg.network 17 points 5 months ago

Yup, sounds like a classic miscommunication. I think we should all compromise and just agree capitalism is the problem lol.

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[–] smeg@feddit.uk 27 points 5 months ago

I don't think the tech is the problem, it's the business drones trying to sell you it

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[–] Deebster@programming.dev 49 points 5 months ago (4 children)
[–] halvar@lemm.ee 38 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This guy sees the most terrifying description of a toxin killing someone and goes "Yep, that's a fun mushroom facto"

[–] Infynis@midwest.social 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, that is basically what's to be expected from myshrooms

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[–] lol_idk@lemmy.ml 38 points 5 months ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)
[–] qyron@sopuli.xyz 37 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] peteypete420@sh.itjust.works 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

They said you die one or two days after eating. You could definitely eat more than once in that time.

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[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 33 points 5 months ago (2 children)

My fucked up brain goes like, "woah, I wonder what death tastes like."

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 23 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Probably bitter and followed by a slow agonizing death by liver failure.

[–] TurtleJoe@lemmy.world 22 points 5 months ago

As somebody who has been through liver failure and transplant, it really sucks. I do not recommend it.

[–] sunbeam60@lemmy.one 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Wikipedia says the death cap tastes quite pleasing, reportedly.

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[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 15 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Saute in a pan with butter and garlic. Death will taste fabulous.

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 5 months ago

That's cheating. Anything will taste great with butter and garlic.

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[–] blanketswithsmallpox@lemmy.world 29 points 5 months ago (10 children)

2 mushrooms hard to fuck up in America.

Chicken of the Forest.

Morels.

I remember selling like 5 lbs of morels when I was a kid and getting like $200. That was without even driving to the city to make the real money.

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[–] The_Tired_Horizon@lemmy.world 28 points 5 months ago (10 children)

I remember being on a wilderness weekend many years ago and being told that when you cut the stem on some poisonous shrooms they discolour a sort of blue tint. I'm lucky, I hate the taste and texture of mushrooms.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 21 points 5 months ago (5 children)

I remember years ago reading you can tell if a mushroom is "magic" by blotting it on paper towel and seeing if it stains blue or purple. Unfortunately, that is also how many things say you can tell it's toxic. Maybe you'll trip balls. Maybe you'll die. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[–] FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee 20 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Maybe you’ll trip balls and THEN die!

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[–] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago (7 children)
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[–] mononomi@feddit.nl 25 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Which mushroom is it then? 😱

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 62 points 5 months ago (1 children)
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[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 24 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Adds this to the big list of horrible ways to die

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[–] TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Thank fuck I don't eat mushrooms

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